Blue and Gold Illustrated

February 2017

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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14 FEBRUARY 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED THEY SAID IT "Senior guard Steve Vasturia has evolved from a three-point specialist as a freshman and sophomore to a junior who increasingly attacks the basket, as he now has a ratio of 68 long- range attempts to 90 twos. What he did on this game-icer against Louisville on Wednesday night was … successfully unorthodox. He drove diagonally left with his right hand, across the lane, and hit a twisting, cross-body, righty floater." Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn on senior men's basketball guard Steve Vasturia and why Notre Dame is No. 16 in his power rankings "… I know for a fact that there are Notre Dame fans out there who would love to see the Irish and 49ers pull off some kind of trade that sends Brian Kelly to San Francisco and Chip Kelly to South Bend. I know this because moments after Chip Kelly was fired, I began receiving text messages from friends and family members asking me if this scenario was plausible. "My belief is that if the 49ers offered their job to Brian Kelly, he might just take it. As for the other half, where Chip Kelly ends up at Notre Dame, I'm not so sure. There's just so much that goes into the Notre Dame job that most coaches at other schools don't have to worry about, and I'm just not sure that Chip Kelly is a fit in South Bend. Still, it would be interesting to see if it did happen, so for that reason alone, I'm willing to put Notre Dame at No. 5 on this week's list." — Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports on why Notre Dame is one of five college jobs Chip Kelly should take if possible "You cannot say that a program that has finished in the top 25 three of the last five seasons and was in the BCS National Championship four years ago is a program that's broken. The Irish have one bad season and all of a sudden they're doomed? No. Notre Dame is trying to fix itself, yes, but that's all they need to do. "The Fighting Irish don't need to reconstruct the program. They aren't going to be a losing team for the next decade. All they need to do is fix the issues they had in 2016." — Noah Strackbein of FanSided via FOX Sports "The Browns pass on a quarterback at the top of the draft, but they can't do the same with their second pick in round one. Kizer has been a big name all season, starting with his excellent showing in an overtime loss to Texas in week one. His size, arm strength, ball placement and football IQ all point to the traits that scouts and general managers love. His play was up and down at times, but his tools are the stuff you look for in the top 10 of the draft." — Bleacher Report's Matt Miller on why DeShone Kizer is the No. 12 pick in his latest mock draft OF THE MONTH "Betting against Mike Brey is like betting against Christian Bale in a Batman movie." Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (@JonRothstein) Jan. 4 UNDER THE DOME Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Lindsay Allen — Basketball The senior guard from Mitchellville, Md., re- corded the sixth triple-dou- ble in program history in her school-record 125th consec- utive start, scoring 11 points, grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds and matching her career best with 12 assists in a 79-58 victory over Chat- tanooga Dec. 27. She became the first player in the ACC to achieve the feat in 2016-17. Through 17 games, Allen was averaging 9.6 points, 7.1 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per contest. Cal Petersen — Hockey For the first time in his career, the junior goal- tender pitched two straight shutouts while leading the Irish to a series sweep (5-0 and 4-0) of visiting Alaska Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. He now has four shutouts this season and nine during his Irish career. Petersen posted an 11- 6-2 record, a .923 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average while starting each of Notre Dame's first 19 contests this season. Brianna Turner —Basketball The junior forward from Pearland, Texas, scored nine points, dished out 11 assists and blocked six shots in Notre Dame's 55-38 win at Georgia Tech Jan. 2. The six rejections moved her into 14th place on the ACC's all-time list, and gave her 18 in her last four outings. Through Jan. 9, Turner was averaging 14.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. Steve Vasturia — Basketball The senior guard from Medford, N.J., buried a three-pointer with 2.5 seconds to go in over- time to give the Irish a 78-77 win in their ACC opener at Pittsburgh Dec. 31. He scored eight of his 15 points in the extra session, and finished with a team-high five assists, two rebounds and two steals. Vasturia averaged 15.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game during Notre Dame's 14-2 start. TOP OF THE CLASS PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND

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